Tag Archives: greenwashing

It’s been three weeks. I remember pausing on August 8 for several moments to note that I felt a real sense of loss and sadness when I read that he had passed. I even talked with my family about it at dinner – a time when we share important happenings of the day. The huge [...]

During a lively discussion at the last SUN Group meeting (Sustainable Upstate Network), the topic turned to understanding the “why” behind clients’ resistance to making green and sustainable choices. One member said (to paraphrase) that LEED® is the problem. Clients are just chasing points without making informed and sensible decisions. If you’re chasing points, you’re missing [...]

A new green product certification? I was duped. When I received an email from a product manufacturer with this logo at the bottom, I thought, “Wow – am I missing something? Is LEED approving products now?” So, I spent the next half hour scouring the LEED web site, only to find that the term “LEED [...]

Reality Check I’m still haunted by the CNN report about Mossville, Louisiana. Here’s the bullet: A small economically-challenged town is surrounded by 14 chemical manufacturers – mostly chemicals used to manufacture plastics. To say that this is a cancer cluster is to put it mildly. In this report, a chemist reports her findings, verified by [...]

“Sustainable” – a word that’s been overused in the last decade. And, what about “sustainable community”? What does it mean? How do you measure that? Many are trying to figure this out. Have you seen “America’s 50 Greenest Cities” according to Popular Science Magazine? The criteria? Energy from renewable resources, public transportation, air quality, number [...]

time to revisit this conversation The only good thing to come from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a re-energized conversation about ending our addiction to oil. And, while Paul Roberts, author of The End of Oil warns environmental advocates about exploiting the Gulf oil spill, I disagree. It’s not exploitation. It’s [...]